I'm sorry you have to deal with this issue. For some reason it sounds like kids get the, " it's in your head thing more so then adults." The Mom's have to be the adult and the Drs. only seem to want to listen to them. The only sad thing is, the Mother is not the one in pain and doesn't know everything you are going through.

I would be upset about the mental health survey too but I will say that I think a lot of people deal with depression with RSD. The Drs. should understand that the depression comes with the RSD.

It sounds to me like your Mother is not listening to your wishes as much as she could. Again I think that comes from the fact that they don't know the extent of the pain you are in and going through.

I am glad you are seeing a PM Dr. Lets hope he's good and knows a lot about RSD.

As far as meds. The lidocaine patch is very helpful. You can slap up to 3 of them on where ever you are in the worst pain. I'm on Methadone but there are a lot on here that can't take it. It does more for me then any I have been on with the least side effects. I don't remember how old you are but that might have a lot to do with which meds they let you have. They are learning now that kids bodies are so different from adults that they can't take the meds that the companies thought was ok for them to take. There are a lot of meds out there though that they could give you. Too many to name but antidepressants, spasms, and the pain are plentiful. The others will come on here and tell you about theirs. I tried them all and like you, I couldn't handle them.

My fingers curl up also but with massage they finally straighten out. I'm lucky though I have a lot of my RSD in remission.

Have they tried blocks on you? Can't remember. Like you, I have no memory left. I get so mad at myself at times because I have forgotten things I shouldn't have.

As far as PT. I listen to people talk about the aggressive PT and I donot believe in it for anyone with RSD. Hell if you wanted to run a marathon later on, you'd get into track training. I don't know what these PT'ers and Drs. are thinking when they put people into aggressive PT. I had one PT'er that tried it on me and I just refused it. There was no way I could ride an exercise bike or treatmill at that time. Now I can do a treadmill at my own pace but not an exercise bike. When I first started out the PT'ers had ordered me a wheelchair and my Dr. said no to that but he also said no to aggressive PT too. He was determined to keep me out of the wheelchair but the way we did it was with massage therapy, heat treatments, the therapist worked on my hands and fingers by massageing them and later going to stretching them a little.

I never got, it's in your head thing because I was curled up like a little old lady and my Drs. didn't know if I'd make it or not. I don't understand though why they give it to you when they can see the shape you are in. I wouldn't want to go back to a Dr. like that either. Some of these Drs. are so set in their ways though, I wonder if they believe in RSD or not. They come out of those damn schools being taught one thing and they think that's how it is. Some keep going back to school to learn, others don't. You soon learn by going to them if they are open minded or have that Godlike attitude.

Sorry, I get on the soapbox about certain things too. Bring your Mom on here and let her read some of the things the girls and guys write on here. Look at what Ali is going through with the Doctors and PT'ers she has. Basically the same thing. I can't emphasize enough, if you have Drs. that won't listen to what you are saying then you don't want them. They have got to listen to the patient with RSD because they can't see the pain we are in.

Another thing, I see people with Drs. that they really like and by the time they are done they are no better but they have what they call " great Drs."
I'm thinking ok, what part of this is great. Same shape they were in years ago, same meds they were on years ago BUT getting worse all of the time.

I hope you do find that right Dr. that will help you soon. Hopefully it will be this PM Dr. and do go in prepared. If you can't remember what you want to ask, write it down. Also write down some of the meds you want to ask about in case he doesn't think of them.

I can tell by the way you are writing you are smart and know that how they are treating you is wrong. That's the first step in getting things done, keep speaking up for yourself too.

Ada